Tuesday, October 7, 2008

8 Tishri 5769: Ten Days of Repentance/Bathtub Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day:

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

“Feds bringing evangelist Alamo back to Arkansas”: This is a story which has been unfolding for a while. Tony Alamo (born Bernie Hoffman), founder of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, is in trouble with the law for alleged sexual activity with minors. (This seems to have been a problem with insane religious leaders since at least Muḥammad.) It has been repeatedly reported:

Alamo has said the age of consent to marry is puberty and there's a mandate in the Bible for girls marrying young, but has denied the federal allegations.

The problem is there is no specific age of consent or mandate for girls to marry young given in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament, so far as I can tell. I will grant that probably the normal age of marriage was lower than it is today in Western countries, but 1) the contemporary Western world is rather unusual historically and 2) just because something used to be the usual practice does not automatically make it a mandate or the best way to do things. E.g., just because it used to be the usual practice for parents to spank their children does not mean it is the best form of punishment; nonviolent forms of discipline may be just as effective. If anyone has any data on what Alamo is thinking, please let me know.